The yield of many crops depends on the exact placement of each seed or set in a furrow. The yield depends on the placement of seeds relative to each other and relative to the geometry of the furrow. For illustration purposes, the examples provided herein refer to potato planting. The problems encountered with potato planting are also found in the planting of other seeds or sets having substantial mass, such as beans and corn. Therefore, the examples given herein do not restrict the present invention to the planting of potato seed pieces. The examples given herein using potato seed pieces are presented herein for convenience to facilitate the understanding of planting problems with other seeds and sets capable of accumulating momentum.
Potato seed pieces are known in the agricultural language as potato sets. A “set” represents any small tuber or part of a tuber, an onion, a corn seed, etc. For convenience, the word “set” is used interchangeably herein with seed and seed pieces, for designating any plant precursor that is planted in the ground for the purpose of producing crops.
Ideal market-size potatoes are the size of a baseball for example and have not been exposed to sunburn along the side of a furrow. The planting of potato sets to obtain an ideal market-size shape must be done at the center of the furrow, and each plant must benefits of sufficient growing space to avoid tuber crowding in the furrow.
Set spacing is also critical to achieve an ideal yield per acre from a field. When the plants are too close to each other, the crop is small. When the plants are too far apart, the yield per acre is low and the crop potatoes may be larger than the ideal market size.
The precise placement of every set relative to the center of a furrow and relative to each other depends on many factors, one of which is referred to herein as “set roll”. During potato planting for example, every set is released at a fair speed. It falls into the furrow and rolls until it loses all of its forward momentum. This is called “set roll” or “seed roll”. A certain amount of set roll would be acceptable if all the set had the same amount of set roll and would maintain an even spacing there-between. That is not the case, however. In North America, potato growers usually cut their seed potatoes in parts which means that the sets do not have an uniform shape, size and weight, and therefore, not the same ability to roll.
There are other factors that influence the amount of set roll that occurs while planting a crop. The largest of these factors effecting set roll is the speed at which the planter is being pulled forward. The sets in the planter, carry a forward momentum as they are being released from the planter. When the sets hit the ground, they roll in the furrow until the forward momentum is lost. This phenomenon causes the sets to be irregularly spaced from each other. Such irregular spacing is considered as a negative planter performance. Ideally, the speed of the planter should be adjusted as soon as irregular spacing occurs. That is the purpose of the present invention.
As can be understood, a set roll takes place between the time the sets are released from the planter or seeder and before they are covered over by a furrow closing mechanism such as a coulter, spades, soil amending wheels, etc. Therefore, the exact location of the final resting place of the sets in the ground cannot be accurately predicted.
It is well known that when planting potato sets at speeds exceed 2.5 mph, set roll begins to greatly affect the seed spacings. Despite of this, most potato growers don't operate their planter at such slow speed during planting. Most growers want to take advantage of a sunny and dry period in mid-May usually, to plant their fields as early and as quickly as possible to maximize the number of growing days before harvest. Therefore, a majority of potato growers in Eastern Canada plant their fields at high speeds such as 4, 5 and even 6 mph when planting a Russet-Burbanks™ variety, for example. In a short growing season, a tradeoff is made between maximum growing days and maximum crop yield.
A substantial reduction of “set roll” in potato sets, has been achieved by using a press wheel mounted behind the seed drop chute, and deflectors to project every set in the forward shadow of the press wheel. The press wheel instantly presses each set against the bottom of the furrow to control the rolling motion of that set and to reduce set roll. This arrangement is illustrated herein at FIG. 1, and is described in U.S. Pat. No. 9,258,940 issued on Feb. 16, 2016, to R. Craig McCloskey, the inventor in the present application. This machine is referred to hereinafter as the McCloskey planter.
Despite all the advances in the art, the verification of a planter performance is still done by digging a section of a furrow by hand and hoe, to measure the actual set spacing. This is usually done in the evening when the planting day is over. This is time consuming and introduces a delay in any correction to be made to the planter's speed or to other settings. Using the hand and hoe method, a farmer can only hope to do better the next day.
Besides planting speeds, there are other factors influencing a planter's performance while planting. For example, the seed's physical characteristics, the topography of the field in which the planter is operating, mechanical wear, dirt buildup on planter's surfaces and weather conditions.
As for weather conditions, it is known that the speed of a planter must be reduced in the morning when the soil is relatively moist. Speed can be increased in the afternoon when the soil is somewhat dryer and warmer.
However, a slower planting speed is very expensive in many ways. Reducing speed during planting extends planting season and shortens the growing season. Losing growing days in a limited growing season could be detrimental in reaching a financial breakeven point for a farmer.
Therefore, it is believe that there is a need in this agricultural industry for a method and a system for determining planter performance in real time, such that ideal speed and performance can be continually achieved. There is a need for a method and system to eliminate trials and errors and adjustment delays, associated with the conventional verification method by hand and hoe.
For illustration purposes, the following documents described the work of others in this field.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,239,010 issued to R. D. Amburn on Dec. 16, 1980. This document describes a seed planter having a microwave seed sensor located in the travel path of the seeds, for indicating the passage of seeds along the seed release mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,626,120 issued to J. Bogner et al. On Sep. 30, 2003. The Bogner document describes a seed planter having seed metering unit and a rotary encoder providing location information for controlling seed planting and spacing and other planted plot data.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,941,225 issued to S. Upadhyaya et al., on Sep. 6, 2005. This document describes a planter using GPS and optical sensors in the seed drop tubes to generate maps of seeds planted.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,726,251 issued to J. R. Peterson et al., on Jun. 1, 2010. The planter described therein has a camera to detect the seed placement and spacing in the furrow.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,473,168 issued to D. M. Goldman et al., on Jun. 25, 2013. The Goldman document describes a seed planter data acquisition system. The planter can detect individual seed dropping from the drop tube and record the coordinates of that seed using a global positioning system (GPS).
U.S. Pat. No. 8,948,976 issued to S. L. Untuh on Feb. 3, 2015. The Untuh document describes a seed planter having a seed meter assembly on the seed plate and a distance measuring instrument to produce a map of seed population in a planted field.
US 2013/0125800 published on May 23, 2013 by D. Landphair et al. This publication also describes a planter using camera to detect seeds in the furrow. As in the Peterson document listed above, the camera detects the seeds in the furrow, whether the seeds are still in movement or not.
Although the seed planters of the prior art deserve undeniable merits, these planters neglect to consider set roll. These prior inventions detect the seeds passing in the drop chute or immediately below the drop chute. The amount of roll of each set and its final resting place in the furrow remain unknown. Therefore, these prior art devices cannot be used to provide a real-time planter performance, such that adjustments can be made on the fly.
Therefore, it is believed that a need exists in the field of seed planter for a system and method to detect in real time, the final resting place of every set in a furrow, such that a planter's speed and other adjustment can be made in real time to maximize acreage planted during each available planting day.